


you're all that i need (underneath the tree)

by minimitchell



Category: EastEnders (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Domestic Fluff, Future Fic, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-24
Updated: 2020-12-24
Packaged: 2021-03-11 01:28:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,021
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28286976
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/minimitchell/pseuds/minimitchell
Summary: Ben has had quite a few Christmases in his life; 24 to be exact.Most of them had neither been very merry or bright.or, a glimpse into their life together through several Christmas clichés
Relationships: Callum "Halfway" Highway/Ben Mitchell
Comments: 12
Kudos: 60
Collections: Ballum Secret Santa 2020





	you're all that i need (underneath the tree)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ballumschmallum](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ballumschmallum/gifts).



> this is for the lovely cally for the ballum secret santa event over on tumblr.  
> i hope you like this, lovely!
> 
> thanks for reading and merry christmas and happy holidays to everyone! <3
> 
> (tumblr: minimitchell)

Ben has had quite a few Christmases in his life; 24 to be exact.

Most of them had neither been very merry or bright. It almost feels like Walford is cursed when it comes to Christmas what with all the deaths and general heartache that seems to hang around here during the holidays. Last year, he had experienced the heartache full-force himself. And although that was down to no one but himself, it still meant that he spent his holidays in the worst mood possible.

This year, he had been determined to make up for the last one and for a while it looked like he was on the right track - he moved in with his boyfriend, him and Phil are finally on even terms and his relationship with his daughter has never been better. It was all going fine. That is, until he became one of the prime suspects for a crime he didn’t commit.

Ben falls back onto the couch with a deep sigh, pressing his fingertips into his eyes in defeat. He just wanted to give his brother an olive branch, for his mom’s sake, not get accused of attempted murder in front of half the square; in front of his own daughter.

“He’s just scared. He didn’t mean it, Ben.”

Callum sets down two mugs in front of him, steam rising up from them into the air above, before he sinks down into the space next to Ben. One of his hands finds Ben’s, still clenched into a fist on his thigh, unclasping his fingers and tangling their hands together.

“Sorry. This isn’t exactly how I wanted our first Christmas to go.”

Callum pulls him into his body, letting Ben mold himself into his side, head tucked under Callum’s chin. He just wanted Callum to have a great Christmas without the stresses of the last few weeks; a far cry from the mess Ben made of them last year, but he only went ahead and fucked that up as well. Like he always does.

“Hey. I still have you with me here, my family, and I get to fall asleep and wake up next to you this year. Sounds like a pretty great Christmas to me.”

Ben feels him press a kiss to the top of his head, his free hand slowly running up and down Ben’s arm, fingertips leaving goosebumps in their wake. Ben always feels the most loved, the most at peace when he’s burrowed in Callum’s arms; when he can hear the strong heartbeat under his ear. It’s become somewhat of a clutch for Ben since he got his implant installed; the need to have an audible reassurance that Callum’s there with him almost overwhelming at times.

Knowing that just being here together is enough for Callum to be happy right now is making his heart flutter, a small smile making its way onto his face. Because to be completely honest, it’s all he needs as well. He’d gladly do without all the tinsel, fairy lights and Christmas music.

He only really needs his family.

He only really needs Callum.

Ben sits up a bit, looking up at Callum while still keeping the warmth from his embrace around him. Callum’s blue eyes are soft and genuine, radiating a love Ben still isn’t used to most of the time, and they look more like _home_ to him than any house he’s ever lived in.

“I’ll give you whatever you want next year, yeah. Ugly Christmas sweaters, reindeer ears, the whole thing. I’ll give you everything.”

“You already did.”

Ben is speechless for a moment; overwhelmed with emotions for the man he’s looking at. It’s amazing how Callum makes everything better, mellows him out and leaves behind nothing but love in Ben’s veins.

The Christmas tree is lit up and reflecting in Callum’s eyes and the whole atmosphere is so cozy between them right now, it serves as the perfect remedy for the terrible day he’s had. Callum is good at that; at being the saving grace. Saving Ben this year just as much as Ben saved him last year. Tit for tat.

With that thought he leans forward, pressing his lips against Callum’s with urgency. There’s a fire burning under his skin, a want to show his boyfriend just how thankful he is for having him here this Christmas. Callum kisses back instantly, like he always does, one of his hands coming up to rest on the side of Ben’s face, fingers curling on the skin of his neck.

He’ll order them those Christmas sweaters later. 

Maybe even antlers if Callum’s lucky.

The house is loud and chaotic, with way too many people mingling in the heavily decorated living room. It’s nice and exhausting all at the same time, having most of his family here together this Christmas. He knows he should count himself lucky that they all get along well enough to celebrate together this year, but it’s a lot. Even Stuart and Rainie have joined them this year, their little boy making big eyes at the Christmas tree from his place in his baby seat.

He’s leaving Bobby to sit with Sharon on the couch, squeezing his dad’s shoulder where he’s sitting with Lexi letting her explain her new toys to him on his way to the kitchen, pushing the door open with a content smile on his face.

Callum is standing at the sink doing some of the washing up already, so that his mom doesn’t have to do it all later in the evening and that alone is enough to make warmth and love flood his body. How can one person be so considerate and sweet?

Ben comes up behind him, wrapping his arms around Callum’s frame, hands finding purchase in his crisp, white shirt. He presses a quick kiss behind Callum’s ear, grinning at the little hum he gets for it in return.

“Lex is over the moon at all the presents she got. She’s showing dad all of her new makeup.”

Callum lets out a chuckle at that and Ben just knows he’s imagining Lexi trying to convince Phil to let her test out her kids makeup on him. Ben reckons it’s definitely what’s happening in the other room right now. And he kind of hopes he lets her.

“Your mince pies are a hit, you know. I reckon you’ll have to make them every year now.”

“You’re just saying that because _you_ want them. I think you ate most of them.”

Ben shrugs his shoulders, moving slightly with Callum when he turns off the tap and dries his hands. He turns around when he’s done, settling his hands on either side of Ben’s hips.

“I’m just appreciating your skills in the kitchen, babe. Just like your skills in other rooms.”

Callum rolls his eyes at the innuendo though he still leans down to press a kiss to Ben’s lips. It’s nothing more than a quick peck though, leaving Ben to chase after his lips for a moment, before he remembers what’s still hiding in the pocket of his pants.

“Wait, I got you something.”

He untangles one of his hands from Callum’s shirt to root around in his pocket, trying to fish out what he’s looking for. It’s oddly reminiscent of a few weeks ago when the thing he was looking for was a box with a ring inside. The same ring that’s now proudly sitting on one of Callum’s fingers for the whole world to see.

“If it’s another empty candy wrapper, I’m not marrying you.”

Ben can see him tilt his head in question when he finally unearths the green bit of plastic from his pocket, holding it gleefully out for Callum to see. It’s the little mistletoe he’s stolen from the Vic after they’d seen it on one of their date nights recently.

There’s laughter bubbling up from Callum’s throat when he recognizes what Ben’s holding, watching him lift the little plant up over their heads. He barely reaches over the top of Callum’s head but it still counts to him. When Callum looks back down at him Ben looks so pleased with himself that he can’t hold back anymore, taking Ben’s face in his hands and guiding their lips together.

It doesn’t take long before Ben gets tired of holding the plastic plant, his hand dropping back down to rest on Callum’s shoulders. Ben walks them a step backwards to press Callum against the cabinets, the excess water from around the skin seeping into the back of Callum’s dress shirt. He doesn’t care about it though, not when he has Ben pressing his body against his own right here.

Ben lets the piece of mistletoe fall to the floor as their tongues meet, digging his fingers into Callum’s shoulder once his hand is free. There’s a crash outside in the living room that sounds suspiciously like glass breaking, followed by a round of howling laughter. They both ignore it though, completely enraptured with each other even after more than two years together at this point.

It’s still exciting, still makes his heart beat faster. Even more so when they eventually join their families again, hands clasped together, the lights reflecting off Callum’s engagement ring. Lexi comes over to climb onto Callum’s lap and just seeing his two favorite people in the world together is enough to make this the perfect Christmas.

They’re all he needs.

The moment Ben walks through the door he’s bombarded with a mixture of scents wafting through the house. There’s cinnamon and mint and something that smells like freshly baked cookies.

It’s not a rarity that he’s coming home to their house smelling amazing whenever Callum is cooking something for them and since he was in charge of picking up Lexi from school today so that she can spend the weekend at theirs, he guesses his daughter has roped her stepdad into baking cookies with her. It doesn’t explain the other scents though.

He finds the answer to that when he pokes his head into their living room, filled with boxes and bags containing numerous Christmas decorations in every possible color. He learned pretty early on into their relationship that Callum loves decorating for Christmas, back when he had to help him put up fairy lights and tinsel all over the flat, and now that they have their own home he’s apparently decided to go all out.

There are animated voices coming from the kitchen, Lexi’s excited high pitch mixing with the low baritone of Callum. Ben throws his keys into the bowl by the door, hanging up his coat and shrugging out of his boots, ready to face whatever his husband and daughter have come up with to entertain themselves while he was at work.

The scene he’s faced with when he pushes the door to the kitchen open is surprising to say the least. Lexi is sitting on the floor in front of the oven, peering into it and talking about the exact way she wants to decorate each cookie while Callum is wiping down the counter above her. He expected to be greeted by a mess of flour and eggs, like all those other times Callum and Lexi get the urge to bake something together, not a pristine kitchen.

Lexi notices him standing in the doorway first, jumping up from the floor and running over to him. She’s getting increasingly difficult to pick up and spin around with her ten years but it doesn’t mean that Ben will stop doing it whenever he sees her.

“What’s all this then?”

“I wanted to decorate the house but dad said we should wait for you so we made Christmas cookies instead.”

Ben looks up to catch the amused smile on Callum’s face, his eyes still sparkling a little bit every time Lexi refers to him as _dad_. She’d asked after they’d gotten married and Callum had said yes immediately, tears gathering in his eyes at the request. And he’s been an amazing dad to her ever since. 

They’ve talked a lot about surrogacy lately, the Christmas time somehow magnifying the want to expand their little family even further, and just seeing how brilliant Callum is with Lexi, has always been with her, is enough to solidify that wish for him.

“I said it’s your house too so you should have a say in the decorations.”

“Oh, so considerate.”

Ben leans forward to press a kiss against Callum’s lips, humming at the feeling that comes every day when finally being reunited with his husband, even though they saw each other just this morning. Callum taps the skin under Ben’s chin when they part, his fingers running over the coarse stubble there.

“Can we start now, please?”

Lexi jumps up and down next to them, interrupting their little moment the way she likes to do so often. They can’t be mad at her though, not when Ben can see the same anticipation in Callum’s eyes right now. He’s been dying to decorate their house since November, now that they have a place of their own to adorn however they want to.

“Alright, princess. Did you decide what colors you want for the tree?”

They got the tree a couple of days ago, only waiting for the next time they had Lexi over to decorate it. It takes up a whole corner of their living room, flared at the bottom and almost but not quite reaching the ceiling, leaving enough space for a small tree topper at the peak.

Callum had gone all out in terms of decorations, buying multiple colored sets of baubles and other little ornaments for the tree. Ben can’t lie, his almost childlike excitement at all of it is incredibly endearing.

“White and gold. And the sparkly ones.”

Ben hides the smile on his face by looking at the ground, thinking of the other day when Callum told him he hopes Lexi wants to decorate the tree in white and gold. He doesn’t know whether Lexi somehow overheard that or if it’s just one more thing that shows how well they all fit together as a family, but Ben is glad anyway that both of them are happy with the decision.

He stands back and watches Callum hang up all the baubles near the top, the ones that he begrudgingly can’t reach, Lexi starting at the bottom of the tree. Callum stands back when he has placed the fairy lights in the branches at the top, now only waiting for Lexi to be done to finish wrapping it around the tree, stepping into Ben’s already outstretched arms.

He pulls Ben into his chest, pressing a kiss onto his forehead when Ben lays a hand on his chest. They keep watching Lexi while she’s placing bauble after bauble on the tree and when Ben turns his head to look out of the window he can see white flocks of snow starting to fall down outside.

It all feels like a scene out of a Christmas movie.

“Dad, can you help me reach?”

Lexi has her arms outstretched, not quite reaching the stretch of green that’s not yet filled with ornaments. Callum untangles himself from Ben and walks over to Lexi to pick her up so she can continue decorating, loud giggles coming from her as she’s being lifted into the air by his husband.

Ben already knew he would be, but Callum turned out to be an amazing husband and even better dad to his daughter.

And Ben really, _really_ wants to have a baby with him.

Wrapping paper and ribbons are occupying every empty space of their living room floor; a pile of already wrapped presents to one side and even more next to them, who have yet to be packaged. There’s Christmas music playing in the background, barely audible but still enough to add to the cozy feeling in here.

Ben leans back against their couch with a sigh, surveying the amount of toys and clothes they have yet to wrap, shaking his head slightly.

“Do you think we’re spoiling our kids too much? Look at all this.”

Callum follows his gaze to the mountain of presents, ranging from small to big in their sizes and various degrees of pristine packaging. Ben’s never really learned how to properly wrap presents and make them look presentable, so he’s thankful that Callum has a lot more skills in that department. He mostly just writes the cards and sticks the ribbons on them.

“I think a third of these are from your dad actually.”

It’s true. His dad offloaded two whole bags of presents this afternoon under Callum’s amused gaze, claiming he only got a few things for their girls. It’s amazing how both Lexi and their new baby have the whole family wrapped around their little fingers, as evidenced by the amount of presents they’re sure to receive tomorrow.

“Well, they’re blessed with the Mitchell charm. _You_ should know that no one can resist that.”

“Yeah, but we’re the ones who’ll have to take all this stuff home tomorrow.”

Callum wanted to host Christmas at their house this year but eventually they both agreed they already have their hands full enough with a four month old baby and an overexcited twelve year-old. They don’t need to add host duties to that as well. Besides, Kathy is always too happy to welcome everyone into her home even though their family gets bigger year after year.

“Don’t make out like you don’t love all this, daddy Callum.”

There’s a bright smile breaking out on Callum’s face at that, his head falling forwards in an attempt to conceal this contentment he’s been carrying with him since their daughter was born. There’s no question at all for Ben that Callum loves Lexi like she’s his own, but he’s had this glow about him ever since he got to hold Lizzie for the first time that tells Ben he’s made the right decision having kids with this man.

“You know I do. There’s not a day where I’m not thankful for you and all you’ve given me.”

The candles next to them on the couch table flicker and shine in Callum’s blue eyes, making them seem even softer than the look they already carry in them. Ben should really be used to the way Callum makes him feel after all these years, but it never fails to knock him for six just how much they love each other.

It never stops making his heart beat faster, his stomach flip and his veins feel like there’s liquid gold flowing through them. Even more so when Callum tells him the loveliest things he’s ever had the pleasure to be told.

“Soft.”

His own voice is barely above a whisper, not wanting to disturb the sudden romantic tension that grew between them. They’ve both been awfully sentimental recently, constantly telling the other how much they love and need each other.

Callum crawls over until he’s right in front of Ben, wrapping one arm around his torso and pulling until Ben sits himself on his lap, hands finding purchase on either side of his neck. Their mouths find each other easily and unhurried, tongues tangling together. Ben squeezes the soft skin under his hands, relishing in the groan it elicits from Callum under him.

His hips start moving on their own accord, forever bound to the same reaction that being in close proximity to Callum will get out of him. Callum tips them both forward, using the arm still wrapped around Ben’s body to cushion their landing, and attaches his mouth to Ben’s neck, kissing down the side of it.

“Cal, we have to finish wrapping these.”

They’re lying halfway under the Christmas tree, needles uncomfortably digging into Ben’s back. He doesn’t really care though, not when Callum presses his body into his, mouthing across the skin above his collarbone.

“Your mom said to take advantage of the time the baby’s sleeping.”

“Don’t think she was, oh, talking about sex.”

He doesn’t stop Callum from unbuttoning his shirt though, always welcoming his husband’s touch. Wrapping the rest of the presents slides further and further away from his thoughts; a task to be tackled some time later. For now, he’s much more interested in unwrapping his favorite present; given to him by fate to make up for every obstacle he ever had to face in life.

He’s not about to say no to the best thing that’s ever happened to him and it’s not like letting Callum kiss him stupid underneath their lit-up Christmas tree is a hardship.

Ben is looking over at his dad bouncing their baby up and down on his knee and letting her pet his face with a bright smile on her face, always keeping a watchful eye on anyone that’s holding their daughter. He’s not overly cautious, Callum is definitely more of a helicopter parent out of the two of them, but he’s never gone through this with Lexi so he’s bound to be a little nervous.

Callum is sitting over at the table with Bobby and his mum, absentmindedly brushing his fingers through Lexi’s hair where she’s sitting on his lap reading the new book they got her for Christmas. He’s wearing that awful sweater Ben got him years ago and he can’t help but think back to this morning when Callum had put it on and Ben first noticed the little grey hairs around his ears. It’s a stark reminder that they’re slowly growing old together; that _he’s_ growing old with the love of his life by his side.

It’s an overwhelming feeling.

Phil hands the baby back over to Ben when she starts getting fussy, calming slightly once she’s tucked in firmly against his neck, little hands fisting the collar of his dress shirt. He can feel her little tufts of breath against his skin, incoherent mumbles cutting through the conversation every now and again. It feels a lot like bliss to him.

“Daddy?”

Lexi walks over to them, her sparkly reindeer sweater that’s matching Callum’s catching and reflecting the twinkly lights strung around the room. She runs a careful hand over her sister’s back, smiling at the little gurgle Lizzie lets out at it. She’s been a phenomenal big sister and that alone makes Ben incredibly proud of her.

“Yeah, princess?”

“Can we take Lizzie outside in the snow before the singing?”

It’s how their whole family finds themselves outside, bundled up in coats and scarfs, walking through the light dusting of snow that’s coating the square. Ben reluctantly lets Lola take off with her goddaughter in her arms, joining Jay and Lexi where they’re trying to build a snowman with the limited amount of snow available to them.

There are strong arms snaking around his body and pulling him in, Callum’s head coming to rest on his shoulder. When Ben turns to look at him he can see snowflakes gathering in his lashes, his cheeks rosy from the cold air around them - he’s never looked more beautiful to Ben.

“Love you, Mr. Mitchell.”

Ben follows his gaze to the scene before them; to his parents chatting with each other with hot coffees in their hands, to both of their families mixing more and more together each year - Bobby is off to the side trying to teach Stuart and Rainie’s son how to make a snowball - and to their daughters smiling brightly at their respective godparents in the snow.

He’s thankful for it all, every day.

He’s thankful for _Callum_ , every day.

“Love you, too, Mr. Mitchell.”

Their fingers link together on Ben’s chest, mouths finding each other even if the angle is far from ideal. He doesn’t care though; Callum’s warmth and love more than makes up for the crick in his neck he might get in a minute.

Ben has had quite a few Christmases in his life. But the ones he gets to spend with Callum and his daughters by his side always prove to be the most magical of them all.

They’re all he really needs.


End file.
